Imposter
by CrystalMaiden77
Summary: What was Antoine's life like when he was forced to disguise himself as Patch? What does he discover about the Anti-Freedom Fighters, and how is he affected by his experience?


" Survival of the _fittest,_ babe! I'd keep wearing the disguise if I were you… _especially_ if you hope to _ever_ see home again! " Scourge had said to Antoine with an amused smirk. With that, he had left him alone with Patch's clothes after sending the owner of them to Mobius, running away in a blue and black blur at the speed of sound. Just like that, Antoine had been separated from his home, forced to disguise himself as Patch as he reluctantly made his way to Alicia's castle in the distance, taking Scourge's words to heart and believing that he had nowhere else to go.

When he walked inside and entered the living room, he tried to keep himself together as he sat on the armchair away from the rest of " his " gang, surrounded by the evil twins of his longtime friends as they watched a gangster movie in their downtime. Fortunately, they didn't seem nearly as intimidating in such downtime, being invested in the movie and eating popcorn like regular people rather than looking bitter and menacing all the time, and Antoine couldn't help but notice how Tails' evil twin had opted to spend that time sleeping with his head on Alicia's chest, appearing to subtly cuddle up to her as he took a nap with the blankets covering him. It was particularly stunning that nobody reacted to it. Instead, Alicia responded to him walking into the living room and looking shocked at Miles being close to her by deadpanning nonchalantly, " You're late. Sit down, the armchair's free. "

Boomer, who was sitting between Buns and the peacefully sleeping two-tailed fox, tipped the large bowl of buttery popcorn over a little to bring some into a small bowl on the table in front of him, and casually handed the bowl of popcorn to him without taking his eyes off the TV screen, saying, " You'll have to figure things out on your own for now, we're not rewinding for you. " Confused and speechless, and seeing an unintentional double meaning in his sentence that was unfortunately relevant to his situation, Antoine took a second before accepting the bowl of popcorn from his " friend, " and sitting down on the armchair with it, reluctantly watching the movie with them to distract himself.

Moebian movies didn't seem that different from what he was familiar with. They had different names and characters in them, but the same general scenarios and even morals and settings were often used. Their media at the very least seemed very familiar to him, which was comforting and reassuring.

Unfortunately, he wouldn't get to spend the rest of the day with them doing something so mundane and innocuous, because the minute the movie ended, Antoine was expected to follow them out of the castle to the nearby city and join in with Patch's sword in hand as they fought with a criminal gang to assert their dominance. While he tried his best to imitate Patch's harsh personality and scowl and avoid looking weak in any sense, being forced to spend all his time around bitter criminals that he didn't trust was making him a nervous wreck, and he wasn't always good at hiding it. He barely spoke around the various members of " his " gang unless they specifically addressed him, made sure not to offend any of them, and isolated himself from them whenever he could get away with it.

Even when he was breaking the law with them, he held back whenever he fought, trying to avoid doing anything he would deeply regret like ending the life of a civilian while playing the part. Surprisingly, no one actually pointed this out to him at the end of the mission. All the gang really commented on was that he was more quiet and uneasy around them, with Alicia commenting nonchalantly without looking at him, " You haven't said anything in a while. What's on your mind? " This caused Antoine to nervously say, " Nothing, " and hope she would leave it at that. Fortunately, she did, but not without giving him a skeptical look with her arms crossed before they started heading home.

By the end of Antoine's first day when he was getting ready for bed, the evil counterpart of Tails approached him in private, quietly following him into his room in Alicia's castle without warning. This naturally made him very intimidated and frightened about being cornered, confronted and mistreated, and his imagination ran wild with the different things Miles could do to him without anyone else seeing it.

" Are you okay, 'Twan? You've been acting nervous. What's wrong? " He jumped and yelped at hearing the young criminal's concerned voice ask that behind him, turned around instantly and exclaimed in a panic, " N-Nothing, nothing! " terrified of getting discovered as a reluctant imposter. It was at this point when he finally realized that Anti-Tails looked worried about him. Along with his usual messy hair and gold ear piercings for the sake of looking intimidating, he had his black boots and red jacket on from earlier in the day, but something Antoine noticed was that the spikes on his black bracelets had been retracted into them, curving around them in a metal band in the center, which made him look less intimidating. But the most reassuring thing of all was the look on his face.

Seeming personally hurt by his behavior, Miles replied sadly with a cocked eyebrow in confusion, " Are you sure?... You can tell me anything, you know that? We're friends! If there's anything I can do to make you more at ease, just tell me. You've earned it for being my friend. After all, I don't get that from people very often. "

Antoine was struck speechless at hearing those words from Tails' evil counterpart of all people, and after just coming out of a mission where he saw him fight just as viciously as he expected. After a brief silence and hesitation, he decided to at least take one risk with him, asking nervously, " It's just that… well… Have you ever thought you should like something, but don't? You just feel hollow and empty and unfulfilled instead? " " A lot, actually… " Miles said with a depressed tone and downcast eyes. This gave him hope.

" What I mean is, well… do you always really love breaking the law? Destroying property and stealing from people and so on? I-I'm not saying this to insult you, I-I just mean, you know, do you ever, _hesitate,_ I'm wondering? " Antoine continued awkwardly, and then flinched, prepared for the worst and regretting ever daring to ask. Miles' eyes widened as he nodded slightly and said in realization, " So _that's_ what this is all about. I figured as much. Well to answer your question, yes. " " W-Wait, really? You're serious? " Antoine responded in shock and not sure what to believe. It must have been too good to be true. " _He's messing with me, right? Is he really serious?!_ " he thought.

Miles reluctantly replied, " Yeah, I am. Look, you're not in trouble, alright? I understand what it's like to have a crisis of conscience. There are plenty of times where I haven't entirely wanted to do something and, just went along with it because the rest of the gang wanted me to. I don't really have anything personal against Dr. Kintobor, I just cause him trouble because everyone else does. And naturally, that means I'm not always eager to do it. "

Miles crossed his arms and said bitterly as he seemed to look right past him remembering, " Granted, _mine_ only last a few seconds, because every time I hesitate, every time I wonder if I'm going too far, I remember how cruel and heartless people can be. I remember how vicious and hateful people were to me for years of my life, just for being too different from them… Their voices all come back and echo in my head and drown out any reservations I have left! People deserve whatever's coming to them. That's the lesson I've learned. " After that concerning revelation where Antoine looked worried and felt frightened, Miles continued with little emotion,

" But while I do have my own personal motive, desiring vengeance against a society that rejected me, sometimes even that isn't enough. You're right, it is hollow for me. I want to love it, because I know they deserve it, but, no matter how satisfied I act, it doesn't change how I really feel… And I have every reason to be satisfied after the pain people put me through! You know full well by this point why I want revenge. But you haven't been through the kind of suffering I have, so you having a more extended crisis of conscience is understandable, if sudden and out of left field by this point. I don't know, maybe it's just a part of getting older and wiser. You become more in tune with how you really feel, and what you actually want. I'm not going to suddenly stop liking you after years of being there for me just because your perspective changes a little. But my point is… "

Miles sighed in exasperation and said, " Oh, damn it, I wasn't trying to make this about me. L-Let me start over. I can relate to your hesitation. And my advice for that would be, keep in mind the reasons why I do it. When revenge doesn't cut it for you, at the very least loyalty should. What better way to repay your friends for _caring about you_ than doing everything in your power to help them? That includes breaking the law if they so desire, to me at least. And I'm not sure how you'd _do_ on your own, not that you're incapable of course, but it's just safer to have allies that are willing to protect you and take care of you when you're sick and, give you a place to stay and spend most of your time. You know, people you can trust and rely on. It's a nice thing to have, no matter what. Who needs a family when you've got friends like that for yourself?... And besides, crime is just an outlet for frustration in the end. If there was a more acceptable target, we'd go after it in an instant. That's why we fight other gangs so much! Criminals like them deserve it a lot more. "

Antoine looked shocked and almost gasped at realizing from what Miles said that rather than him being completely uncaring about right and wrong, Miles' crimes might actually stem from his own twisted sense of justice. And from what he was saying, he wasn't the only member of the gang who thought that way. Was there a part of all of them that wanted to be heroes after all, but couldn't? Thinking it wasn't fair, Antoine asked sadly, " Are you saying that if we had someone like Dr. Robotnik to fight, we'd spend most of our time doing that? "

" Well, of course! Why not? Hell, the whole reason we went to Mobius-Prime to pick a fight with our prime counterparts in the first place was because we were bored and wanted a challenge. We wanted someone better to fight than random city dwellers and, Dr. Kintobor… so we chose some heroes instead, okay, bad example. My _point_ is, _yes,_ if we had a more destructive force to fight, a ' villain ' if you will, then of course we'd fight him. And he'd probably occupy most of our time. But that's simply not the case. Our world doesn't really have a lot of these ' villains ' being huge domineering threats like the so-called good counterparts of us have to deal with in their supposedly superior world. Evil dimension yeah, right, I don't see how the people of _this_ world are any different than people everywhere… " Miles replied, being more casual at the start and depressed and bitter as he progressed through it. By the end, he sighed in frustration and said considerately to who he thought was his old friend,

" I'm going on too long about this again, aren't I? Sorry about that. My point is, Antoine, I know it can be hard sometimes to keep doing everything we do all the time, as regardless of what you know and believe, sometimes it doesn't _feel_ right. But for your own good, you're better off staying with us, and if you want to stay with us, you probably will need to break the law a lot whether you like it or not. So think whatever you can to make things easier for you; remember that everyone _deserves_ it and no one is innocent, and that you're repaying us for being your friends, and if all else fails… think of it as stress relief. Nothing more cathartic than taking your stress and anger out on something, no matter what it is. It's not healthy to keep it all bottled up inside. "

Miles surprised him once again with a likable smile that was just as cute and endearing as a smile from Tails, looking at him with a radiant caring earnesty that he couldn't deny any longer, as he said gratefully, " And hey, if there's anything else I can do to get you through this, old pal, then tell me. I'll do anything I can to see you smiling again! Because you've earned it, Antoine. "

With that, Miles embraced him in a hug, startling him at first as he jumped from fear and shock, just barely having enough time to hug back to humor him. He was completely taken aback by how kind and understanding the evil counterpart of Tails could be, and didn't know what to think of it. This was such a stark contrast from the moody and depressed kid he saw furiously joining in on the crimes hell-bent on making people suffer. It almost didn't seem real, and he was stunned that he could have such a compassionate side that he only showed to his friends, and that he even had any genuine friends at all.

" _Is there more to this, ' punk brat, ' than I thought?... Maybe he won't be so bad. Maybe, he'll be my only real friend here…_ " Antoine thought as he hugged the child that had his head buried in his shoulder and was wrapping his tails around him to keep him close. When the hug ended seven seconds later, Miles looked him in the eyes sincerely again, and said with his hands on his shoulders reassuringly, " I won't tell anybody. "

" I… Merci beaucoup, T-Tails… " he replied almost in a daze as Miles quietly walked towards his closed bedroom door. The evil genius seemed to look unhappy and resentful all of a sudden, and Antoine, wondering if he did something wrong, asked, " C-Could I call you Miles instead? " secretly wanting to distinguish him better from his old friend as well as being courteous to him. Miles stopped in front of the door and turned to him with an appreciative smile, saying, " Sure! I'd love that. Never liked that, ' nickname, ' anyways. " Miles' smile became more forced and then was replaced with a look of anxiety and bitterness as he reflected on what he said walking towards the door.

Antoine said, " Wait! " with his hand reaching out before he left the room, causing him to stop with his hand above the doorknob and look at him in confusion. Scratching his head and the back of his neck nervously, Antoine managed to get the courage to admit to him, " There's, um, a lot I might need some, refreshers on… because… "

" Did you hit your head recently? " Miles asked nervously in confusion, his head tilted a little in an unintentionally cute way. There was a silence as Antoine wasn't sure what to say, but he was fortunately interrupted by Miles continuing with a lighthearted smile, " So that's why you seemed so confused today. I forget a lot of things when that happens to me, too. See, if you spent more time around _us_ instead of going off on your own for reputation-building ' pirate stuff ' we probably would've been able to keep you from getting a concussion. " Antoine said nervously with a forced smile, " Well, I might not do that anymore, if that's okay with everyone here… " hoping he could get away with it. He wouldn't commit any crimes he wasn't completely forced to if he could help it.

Not even questioning it, Miles continued with an understanding smile, " In all seriousness, though, I'll be happy to give you reminders of anything you're confused about. And since you're probably worried about looking vulnerable and easily manipulated by word getting out about this, well, don't worry, I'll keep it between us... Well, unless they get really suspicious of you to the point where you'll get in trouble if I don't explain things to clear your name, and if that happens, you'll have nothing to worry about. They won't do anything that upsets me too much, so all I'd have to do is side with you. Well, Bunnie will still complain, but that won't count for much. She doesn't like me anyways. "

With that, he closed the door behind him, leaving Antoine alone in his room as he finally, for the first time since he was brought to Anti-Mobius, began to smile. While he still didn't really like Miles, heavily disapproving of and fearing his hate-filled law-breaking and not finding him very approachable most of the time, at the very least seeing that he would show a considerate side to him reassured him immensely. Having at least one person that he'd get away with showing his soft side to might do a lot to keep him from losing his soft side completely, having someone that he could let his guard down for and show kindness and affection to without having to worry about facing consequences for letting down his intimidating fake persona.

He was deeply stressed over the idea of spending a long time pretending to be a vicious criminal, and terrified, not only of his new company and the consequences of being discovered as an imposter, but he was even more afraid that his menacing and irritable act might end up becoming more truth than fiction. The last thing he wanted was for his time around the evil versions of his friends to end up influencing him in the worst possible way, breaking him down until he ended up being no longer himself, no matter how determined he would be at first to not forget who he truly is, but having at least one true friend in the gang might be the one thing that would keep him sane.

Miles did whatever he could to try to make Antoine's time disguised as Patch less stressful. He gave him reassuring gestures like putting his arm around him and even hugging him, and often made sure that he'd get to eat food he really liked.

Antoine began to take any opportunity he could to spend time alone with his only real friend in the gang, knowing that when he was around him, he wouldn't be forced to break the law nearly as much. As a result of this closer friendship, it soon became him and not Alicia who was spending the most time alone with Miles. He was the one who had to hold him still when he was having a panic attack over getting a flu shot. Miles even allowed Antoine to be the one taking care of him when he was sick to give him a break from having to break the law.

The only downside Antoine had to deal with was the slight awkwardness of Miles cuddling him to feel better, having his head on his chest, hugging him and generally wanting to be reminded that he was loved, a lot more than he normally did. And even then, Antoine would eventually grow fond of that affection and stop minding it.

It was rare when anyone in the gang other than Miles was sick, but when that was the case, it was Miles who always volunteered to nurse them back to health, and there were a few times when Antoine was the one who was sick. As usual, Miles encouraged him to view it as a vacation giving him an excuse to take a break. While Miles spent most of his time with him, usually listening to a CD player to pass the time, occasionally he was forced to leave to cause trouble with his gang, and he felt bad about leaving him at home sick, something Antoine still wasn't used to, as he was completely confused upon seeing Miles walk into his room holding a cucumber and tomato sandwich in his hand.

With another one of his sweet childish smiles, Miles handed him the sandwich saying, " Here you go, 'Twan. Some early lunch. I didn't feel right about leaving you home sick without giving you lunch on time. So I made a sandwich for you! " Antoine smiled nervously, instinctively worrying that it was poisoned or something considering that an evil twin gave it to him, but his thoughts were interrupted when Miles casually said, " I love you, 'Twan! " as if he had said it a million times before. Completely caught off guard, Antoine looked at him right away shocked and confused, silent as he let that sink in. Unfortunately, Miles noticed the silence, and quickly began to have a sad and heartbroken expression on his face, saying, " 'Twan? " with a nervous tone of voice.

Realizing what was happening as the kid's eyes started to water, Antoine panicked and impulsively forced out, " I love you, too, Miles! I-I was just in deep thought about something… " Embarrassed at saying that, he sighed melancholically, thinking he was lying to him, but seeing Miles start to smile again made him feel like he had done the right thing again.

" I'm just not used to being told that, and I don't know if I'll ever be. Do you truly mean it? " Antoine said awkwardly. Miles, understanding what that was like, replied, " Of course I do. You're my best friend. You've never hurt me or been mean to me, you're someone I can trust to care. That's why I said that, because you mean so much to me. " He still had sadness in his voice, and struggled to speak at times, but his smile and kind words spoke volumes, leaving Antoine stunned once again as the child left the room at last.

Like with Patch, he brought Miles to the arcade every month, and had to wave a sword around menacingly threatening everyone in the arcade yelling intimidatingly to get them to empty their pockets of coins and run out of the arcade. It was something he didn't feel right about, but at the very least, Miles made it clear to him that there were legitimate excuses for doing it; Alicia had better things to spend money on as the princess than giving them arcade money, so they needed another way to get it, and Miles wouldn't feel safe if he was surrounded by people, meaning he wouldn't be able to enjoy the arcade as intended.

Antoine did find the arcade games fun, but he couldn't help but reflect on how he wasn't helping the Freedom Fighters like he should've been. It was hard to enjoy himself when doing so often led to him feeling guilty about not being there for them, doing what he should've been doing instead. He was a loyal Freedom Fighter, and yet instead of fighting Robotnik, he was playing arcade games with Tails' evil twin. He always couldn't help but think, " _I shouldn't be doing this._ "

Glancing over at Antoine beside him after losing all his lives to an arcade game, Miles noticed him looking depressed, and said unhappily, " Hey, what's wrong? Aren't you having fun? " Antoine looked over at him, and replied sadly, " Oui, but, I just, wish I could be doing something more, um, fulfilling… I mean, it's just an arcade game. I'm not doing anything important. I just, don't know if I should be enjoying this. " He wanted to go more in depth, but he had already said everything he could've said on the first day, and he didn't want to depress or annoy Miles by getting into the habit of so-called moral lectures about his way of life.

Feeling bad for him, Miles said passionately with a worried tone, " 'Twan, listen to me. I never want you to think that you shouldn't be enjoying yourself, or that you don't deserve to be happy! That's a self-destructive way of thinking that punishes any kind of happiness and will only make your life miserable. I want you to appreciate anything good your life has, to laugh and smile and enjoy yourself! Don't think that you shouldn't be happy, and that you have to validate yourself, because you're my friend. You've earned it. "

Antoine smiled nervously, thanking him deeply for what he said, and had to force back tears after hearing that, so grateful of him saying such things to someone who wasn't who he thought he was. He wanted to completely agree with him and start enjoying his time on Moebius for what it was, but there was still a part of him that seemed morally opposed to the idea, not allowing him to appreciate it out of loyalty to his friends and way of life.

Fortunately for him, Miles refused to give up. He would proceed to regularly remind him throughout their friendship on Moebius of what the good in his life was, including the fact that he had a warm place to sleep at night where he always got enough to eat and drink, a place where he'd be taken care of well if he was hurt or sick because he had friends he could rely on.

Upon getting home that day from the arcade, noticing that Antoine was still nervous and depressed, Miles told him in private, " I want you to write out a list of every single good thing about your life. Don't leave anything out! Write down all of the pros while ignoring the cons, and look at it every day when you wake up so that you never forget what you have to be thankful for. " He nodded and reluctantly did what he was told, something he'd at the very least appreciate because that list became one of the most comforting things about his life there.

Nearly a year later, staying with the Anti-Freedom Fighters all that time, Antoine finally saw Sonic again, but just like the rest of his gang, he believed that the blue hedgehog was Scourge, and was defeated in a fight with him after he somehow managed to escape the fate arranged for him. Sonic had tossed Alicia and Buns in the water unaware of its potential consequences for them, knocked Antoine unconscious, and ran in a circle around Miles to make him dizzy enough to pass out in a daze. When the two of them finally regained their senses, they realized that they were the only people around.

At first, Miles didn't seem to notice that there was anyone else around, as Antoine had been hidden by one of the bushes nearby after losing in the previous fight, and as a result, he woke up to hearing Miles say in a panicked voice, " Am I all alone?! Sally?! Antoine?! No, they can't be dead! Please! " Those words from a familiar voice immediately motivated him to force his eyes open, get up despite the aching pain, and run towards Miles to comfort him. Even though he was Tails' evil twin, and he still found him unsettling for that alone, he couldn't help but feel sorry for him when he was in such emotional distress, and the fact that he had spent so much time around him also helped.

Not wanting Miles to panic and do something irrational like try to run away to Kintobor, Antoine quickly ran towards the child and put his arms around him in a hug, taking a gutsy risk to reassure him as soon as possible that he was safe. Even though a part of him was terrified of Miles attacking him for it and had severe reservations about the idea, he forced himself to do it in spite of the fear, because he wanted to do what he thought was right.

" Miles, relax! I'm fine, " he quickly said to him, saying his actual name to get his attention as an ally right away. At first, Miles jumped and yelped at being grabbed by someone suddenly, but to Antoine's relief, it only took him a second to instinctively hug back, relax his shoulders and realize who it was. Unfortunately, it did nothing to calm him down, as he buried his head in his chest hugging him for comfort with tears escaping his eyes and seeping into his black leather jacket. " Antoine! " he said with a cracking voice, scared and relieved at the same time, with the familiar sound of his French accent and the voice associated with it having reassured him that he was safe.

" I'm okay, I'm not too hurt. Just some bruises, that's all, " Antoine reassured him nervously as he held the crying child close to him and tried to ignore that he was Tails' evil twin. He couldn't help but treat him like Tails in that situation and react to him as such, especially after all that time he spent having Miles as his only real friend in a gang of intimidating criminals, and he was ashamed of himself for being weak enough to have his mind tricked in that way. He often wondered if he was losing it with them, or if it was just his mind's way of keeping that very thing from happening.

" Where are they?! " Miles said with a breaking voice, and sniffled and gasped before saying in fear to no one in particular, " Why aren't they here? Are they dead? Sonic wouldn't do that, would he?! W-W-Where am I gonna live, what am I gonna do?! No, no, no!" He gasped again, and begged him, " Please! I don't wanna lose you too! Promise me! I can't go back to being alone… " He broke down sobbing after that, holding him like he was terrified he would disappear.

Being grateful that Miles cared about him and at least wasn't causing him pain by holding him so tightly, Antoine looked nervous and hesitated before deciding to speak; it made him uncomfortable being faced with the fact that Miles would be devastated if he left him, when all he ever wanted since he was forced to disguise himself as Patch was to leave him and go back home. As a result, he decided to be careful about what he said to him and choose his words carefully, because he didn't feel right about outright lying to him, betraying him after all the times he had shown compassion for him. Feeling awkward about how Miles was unintentionally making him feel guilty, Antoine quickly reassured him honestly,

" Don't worry, relax! I would never leave you all alone! Y-You can stay with me for as long as you want. I promise! " Miles seemed to calm down at hearing that, and Antoine was silent briefly afterwards, reflecting on what he just said. " And I'm sure everyone else is fine. It's not like Sonic to just kidnap them, and he couldn't have, you know, because they aren't here at all. So they must have been able to run away. I'm sure if we just check back home, we'll see them again and it'll all be fine, " he continued nervously, and awkwardly made himself stroke the back of Miles' head to reassure him. A part of him was content with doing that, but another part reminded him of who he was dealing with.

" Y-You're probably right. But if they aren't, what'll happen to us? What are we gonna do? " Miles said sadly, with a quiet voice full of nothing but dread and despair. " I… I'm not sure. Things will change, there's no avoiding that… I'm sorry to bring this up again, but, is causing trouble for Dr Kintobor and the world really something you can't go without? Would you be happy doing something else, finding another outlet? Would you still stay with me and not, get mad? " Antoine replied uneasily, unsure of how exactly to word it.

" Of course I would. You'd be my only friend left. At that point, I'll do _anything_ to keep having someone to support me. Pathetic, I know, but I'm that desperate, " Miles admitted sadly, annoyed with himself. By that point, the tears in his eyes had stopped at last, and his voice was no longer cracking, but his ears were drooping as his eyes were downcast and depressed. Antoine said unhappily, " You're not pathetic! Did I ever say that? " with his question referring more to his evil twin than to himself.

" No, but Bunnie did, " Miles said bitterly, reminding Antoine to his discomfort that the Bunnie he had to deal with was nothing like the friendly one he had fallen for so long ago. " And everyone else does, " Miles whispered quietly sounding depressed, referring to the people of his world who didn't work with the gang.

As Antoine finally realized how long he had been holding him, Miles said reluctantly, " I suppose we could lash out at criminals, be more focused on fighting ' villains, ' even though to me everyone's a villain, but whatever, some people still deserve it a lot more and should certainly be focused on first. Without the rest of the gang pressuring us, we wouldn't have to bother that scientist anymore. And again, I'd do anything for a friend, even if it's support them in something I'm not enthusiastic about. I'd still like you as long as you treat me right. "

Antoine said nervously, " That's a relief… Are you ready to let go now? S-So we can go home? " Miles was silent for a second before saying, " Oh, " moving away from him making his widened eyes visible to him, and Antoine let go of him as Miles ended the hug at last, pulling away from him and smiling nervously, looking unhappy at seeing at last that Sonic's wind had blown the gloves off his hands. The fact that Miles was willing to even consider the idea of becoming more of a hero was encouraging to Antoine, even if the version of a hero he had to suggest to him was more of a violent vigilante than something like a Freedom Fighter, and it gave him hope that perhaps one day, if something really did happen to the Anti-Freedom Fighters, he'd finally be free from being forced to do evil things and he'd feel like himself again.

" _Wait a minute, did I just fantasize about Miles' friends dying?!... Oh my goodness! I hope they're not influencing me to be more like them! I'm only pretending to be my evil twin, the last thing I want is to end up like him for real. I shouldn't_ _be even thinking like that. Even if they are evil, I should still be glad that they're alive, even if they are causing nothing but trouble and Miles might be a hero without them… What is wrong with me?_ " Antoine thought as Miles sadly got his gloves back on, mortified when he realized the implications of what he was hoping for.

Before he could spend too long looking nervous with Miles walking home with him in concern, he was snapped out of his train of thought upon hearing Miles exclaim, " Sally! " in fear and run up to the beach to the left of them in fear. Antoine looked up from the ground in front of him and turned around to see that Alicia and Buns were lying on the beach soaking wet, looking exhausted and miserable. Buns was coughing up a storm, getting rid of the water she ended up swallowing upon being sent into the toxic river by Sonic. " Sally, are you hurt?! " Miles exclaimed in fear, and helped Alicia up immediately as Antoine stared in shock, still not entirely used to how he interacted with her. He'd expect Tails' evil twin to be reluctant to even touch her clothes after she was sent into polluted waters, but here Miles was helping her up to a standing position and reassuring her without a second thought. It was clear he would've even helped her walk home if he wasn't far too short to do so.

Buns deadpanned sarcastically, " _I'm fine,_ by the way, Frankly your concern for me is getting embarrassing, " speaking with a strained voice after coughing up the last of the toxic water. Finally looking over at her again, Miles exclaimed, " Bunnie! " looking worried, and reached out for her forcing the words out as he said awkwardly, " I'm sorry. Um... Want my help, too? " Buns pushed herself up off the sandy beach dusting herself off while saying resentfully to him, " Don't bother, " and stood herself up at last. She crossed her arms standoffishly and looked away from him muttering, " I'll be fine. " Miles stared at her apologetically for a little while before returning to focusing on Alicia, asking her, " Will you be okay? " Alicia nodded, and said with a less strained voice,

" I'll be alright. I've got a great immune system, after all. I'm sure we'll be fine after getting some sleep, and taking a break for a couple days, and taking a shower… " She coughed a little, and forced a reassuring smile as she said to Miles with her arm around him, " Don't worry too much. Let's just go home and try to forget this ever happened, " and started walking home along with everyone else, holding his hand to reassure him.

After a brief silence where Buns intentionally walked ahead of Miles looking just as resentful of him as she usually did, Miles asked nervously, " What's the plan if Rotor isn't home? I woke up with Antoine and he and Sonic were gone. "

Looking serious, Alicia replied, " I'm not quite sure. We'll just have to hope for the best. We can't exactly replace him, there's no one else with his level of engineering skill. But it won't change too much, don't worry. Let's just hope he manages to get away from that blue idiot before Christmas. " Miles nodded in agreement, and had a resentful expression again at being reminded of Scourge. It was creepy to Antoine how being constantly around him for a year had made it easy to tell what he might have been thinking just from the context and his reactions to it, as he correctly guessed that Miles was thinking about how much he resented Scourge as they all walked home together.

He also noticed how she mentioned Christmas, which was apparently a holiday on Moebius as well, and he was stunned at the realization that from what Alicia said, the gang celebrated Christmas together just like a family would. It was just like Miles said, friends were family. He wondered if he would be with them long enough to have to spend his Christmas with them, far away from his friends back home, and awkwardly having to smile and nod and pretend that he was somebody else, being treated like a beloved member of a family he wasn't even really a part of. A part of him really appreciated it, but another part was sick to its stomach, thinking of the appreciation as Stockholm Syndrome and just wishing it would all be over.


End file.
